Relationships between food substances, developmental success and reproduction in Typhlodromus transvaalensis (Acari : Phytoseiidae)

The predacious mite, Typhlodromus transvaalensis (Nesbitt) completed its li fe cycle when fed on the eriophyid mites Eriophyes dioscoridis Soliman and Abou-Awad and Eriophyes olive Zaher & Abou-Awad, eggs of the scale insect P arlatoria zizyphus (Lucas) and pollen of Ricinus communis (L.) in experimen tal conditions. The percentage of individuals attaining maturity was less t han 20% when nymphs of the tetranychid mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, were provided. The development was faster and reproduction was higher when T. t ransvaalensis fed on eriophyid mites. T. urticae was an unsuitable feeding and reproduction substrate. The daily reproduction was as low as 0.4 and 0. 8 eggs/female/day when females were maintained on pollen grains of R. commu nis and eggs of P. zizyphus. The adult female daily consumed 126, 97 and 6 individuals of E. olivi, E. dioscoridis and T. urticae, respectively.